Kohima, Aug. 20: Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio today said inter-factional killings cannot be seen as a law and order problem as they arise out of political problems.

Rio was replying to the Opposition Congress?s accusation that the state was turning lawless, as factional killings were on the rise along with harassment of innocent people through intimidation and extortion. He requested Speaker Kiyanilie Peseyie to call a meeting of all former and present legislators to discuss the Naga political problem.

Earlier, Opposition members walked out and protested when home minister Thenucho referred to violence during the Congress regime.

Rio said former Prime Minister, late P. V. Narasimha Rao had admitted that the Naga problem was a political one.

Rio said Nagaland has a political issue to address, which is different from law and order. He said the Opposition took everything as a law and order problem. To prove his claim, Rio enlisted events from the submission of a memorandum by Nagas to the Simon Commission in 1929, through the plebiscite of 1951, to the signing of ceasefire agreements with the NSCN factions in 1997 and 2001.

Rio almost shrugged off the Congress issue, saying that since there was no ceasefire between the rebel factions, they were fighting among themselves.

Senior leader Chinwang Konyak said villagers in Mon district were of the view that the ceasefire agreement of underground groups should not be extended.

Imkong said Nagaland had lost the trust of the Centre and other states due to fake gun licences in the state. ?They suspect Nagaland state government is being run by underground activists (rebels),? said Imkong.

More than 23,000 gun licences have been issued in the state since 1999, most of them to applicants from outside Nagaland. Rio argued that his government had issued very few licences and passed the buck to the Congress.

Opposition leaders said the government was shielding chargesheeted government officials in Dimapur and asked for their immediate suspension.